Indian Games : an historical researchBy: Andrew McFarland Davis

First Page:

INDIAN GAMES

AN HISTORICAL RESEARCH

BY ANDREW McFARLAND DAVIS

"There are," says Father Brebeuf in his account of what was worthy of
note among the Hurons in 1636, [Footnote: Relations des Jesuites,
Quebec, 1858, p. 113.] "three kinds of games particularly in vogue with
this people; cross, platter, and straw. The first two are, they say,
supreme for the health. Does not that excite our pity? Lo, a poor sick
person, whose body is hot with fever, whose soul foresees the end of
his days, and a miserable sorcerer orders for him as the only cooling
remedy, a game of cross. Sometimes it is the invalid himself who may
perhaps have dreamed that he will die unless the country engages in a
game of cross for his health. Then, if he has ever so little credit,
you will see those who can best play at cross arrayed, village against
village, in a beautiful field, and to increase the excitement, they
will wager with each other their beaver skins and their necklaces of
porcelain beads."

"Sometimes also one of their medicine men will say that the whole
country is ill and that a game of cross is needed for its cure. It is
not necessary to say more. The news incontinently spreads everywhere.
The chiefs in each village give orders that all the youths shall do
their duty in this respect, otherwise some great calamity will overtake
the country."

LACROSSE.

In 1667, Nicolas Perrot, then acting as agent of the French government,
was received near Saut Sainte Marie with stately courtesy and formal
ceremony by the Miamis, to whom he was deputed. A few days after his
arrival, the chief of that nation gave him, as an entertainment, a game
of lacrosse. [Footnote: Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale par M. de
Bacqueville de la Potherie, Paris, 1722, Vol. II, 124, et seq. ]
"More than two thousand persons assembled in a great plain each with
his cross. A wooden ball about the size of a tennis ball was tossed in
the air. From that moment there was a constant movement of all these
crosses which made a noise like that of arms which one hears during a
battle. Half the savages tried to send the ball to the northwest the
length of the field, the others wished to make it go to the southeast.
The contest which lasted for a half hour was doubtful."

In 1763, an army of confederate nations, inspired by the subtle
influence of Pontiac's master mind, formed the purpose of seizing
the scattered forts held by the English along the northwestern
frontier. On the fourth day of June of that year, the garrison at Fort
Michilimackinac, unconscious of their impending fate, thoughtlessly
lolled at the foot of the palisade and whiled away the day in watching
the swaying fortunes of a game of ball which was being played by some
Indians in front of the stockade. Alexander Henry, who was on the spot
at the time, says that the game played by these Indians was "Baggatiway,
called by the Canadians le jeu de la Crosse. " [Footnote: Travels and
Adventures in Canada, etc, by Alexander Henry, New York, 1809, p. 78,
Travels through the Interior parts of North America, by Jonathan Carver,
London, 1778, p. 19. The Book of the Indians, by Samuel G. Drake,
Boston, 1811, Book V, Ch. III, p. 52.]

Parkman [Footnote: The Conspiracy of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman,
Boston, 1870, Vol. 1, p. 339.] concludes a vivid description of the
surprise and massacre of the garrison at Michilimackinac, based upon
authentic facts, as follows: "Bushing and striking, tripping their
adversaries, or hurling them to the ground, they pursued the animating
contest amid the laughter and applause of the spectators. Suddenly,
from the midst of the multitude, the ball soared into the air and,
descending in a wide curve, fell near the pickets of the fort. This was
no chance stroke. It was part of a preconcerted scheme to insure the
surprise and destruction of the garrison. As if in pursuit of the ball,
the players turned and came rushing, a maddened and tumultuous throng,
towards the gate. In a moment they had reached it... Continue reading book >>